Cricket coaching a possibility - Andrew Flintoff

Former England all-rounder and 2005 Ashes hero Andrew Flintoff is eyeing up a career as a cricket coach, but not just yet as he keeps himself busy following his retirement from playing.

He initially hung up his boots in 2009 - after helping England to another Ashes success - before making a surprise return to cricket last season playing Twenty20 cricket for Lancashire and Brisbane Heat.

Flintoff helped Lancashire reach the final of the NatWest T20 Blast, where they lost out to Birmingham Bears, and then headed to Australia for the Big Bash, where Brisbane finished bottom of the group despite Flintoff's best efforts with bat and ball.

With his playing days coming towards an end, he thinks he will return to the game in the future, possibly in a coaching role.

But first, the 37-year-old has managed to keep himself busy since his days of hitting sixes and taking wickets for England, by becoming a TV star, cycling across the Amazon, trying his hand at boxing, selling fish and chips, and now he's trying out stand-up with his 2nd Innings tour.

Talking to www.joe.co.uk, Flintoff explained why he has tried everything and anything since leaving cricket behind.

"I know people wonder 'what the hell is doing that for?' But while the opportunities are here I’m going to take them," he said.

"I don’t want to get to a place when I’m older and look back and wonder why I didn’t try this and that.

"I’d sooner try something and it go wrong and fail, I’ve no problem with that. I have a problem with not trying it in the first place. That’s what I’ve tried to instil in my kids.

And Flintoff, who played 79 Tests and 141 One-Day Internationals for England, says that he feels he will at some point return to the game which made him a household name in the future.

"Someone else will come along soon and I’ll be forgotten about, I’m busy up until next February and after that I’ll take stock," he said.

"I think I'm going to take some proper time off to be with the family and then I’ll prioritise what I really want to do and where I want to go after that - maybe coaching cricket."

If he did begin a career as a coach, he would follow in the footsteps of a number of players who also featured in the iconic 2005 Ashes series.

Paul Collingwood, Ashley Giles, Justin Langer and Jason Gillespie have made the transition already while Steve Harmison is now the manager of Ashington A.F.C.

Where, as it happens, as if he wasn't wasn't busy enough, Flintoff has recently been warming the bench in a pre-season friendly against Preston FC!

Flintoff quotes kindly provided by www.JOE.co.uk - the new lifestyle website targeted at the discerning British man.